The Armada

Captain's Blog Stardate 93112.44

What?!?! The Armada System?!?! If you already heard about this then you must have guessed I would talk about it. I'm so shocked and excited for this update to the fleet system. It's been too long and I think it is definitely a step in the right direction. Although it seems to be missing something, can you guess what?

If you haven't guessed, then I'll tell you in a moment. First let's talk about the Armada system and what it means for Star Trek Online. Fleets will essentially be able to ally together in an Armada which is made up of a maximum of 13 fleets. The leading fleet (or Alpha fleets) can have three additional fleets under it, called Beta fleets. Each Beta can have an additional three called Gamma fleets. What I like most about this is that it has room for growth. Cryptic could add more Beta or Gamma fleets, or even add Delta fleets under Gamma. Still, a 13 fleet maximum is a lot.

Each fleet can contribute to the others. Fleet leaders can control which projects and resources are contributed by other fleets. This opens up a whole new avenue for fleet members to earn Fleet Credits. I know as a leader I've always heard complaints about fleet projects being filled to quickly. Hopefully this will help with that.

It's also nice to see that each fleet in the Armada will earn bonuses depending on their position in the Armada (Alpha, Beta, or Gamma). That should greatly help smaller fleets to finish their holdings quickly. The final bit of good news is being able to export the fleet roster to a spreadsheet. The STO Academy uses these to track members progress so we can hand out promotions. Up until now we've been using the Gateway but that's a bit of a hassle. Fingers crossed that spreadsheets will help with that too.

Now the one thing that seems to be missing, cross-faction fleets. When is Cryptic going to open it up and allow anyone to join any fleet despite their faction? It's 2410, the alliance is in full force, let us work together! I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. In the comments let me know what do you think about the Armada System and the idea of cross-faction fleets.

Written by Attilio on July 05, 2015 at 09:49 pm

Comments

Bindlestiff(Member) said...July 06, 2015 at 05:56 am

"It's 2410, the alliance is in full force..."

And right there is something that this system could be used for; Alliance!

Allow each of the individual Fleets to be from any faction, and then the projects (and shopping) is done on the Fleet to Fleet level rather than on the Player level.

I LOVE this upcoming Armada System! I'm a fleet leader for a small, passed-down, KDF fleet and getting people to join has been like pulling teeth. So it has just been 1 fleet-mate of mine and myself building the Fleet up. We joined up with a fleet coalition to get some support but we are still slow and steady. We currently are T1.5. This Armada system will enable our coalition to be much more official and organized. Not to mention the trickle-down economics of the system in reference to fleet projects. As you mentioned, the only issue I have is cross-faction Armadas because I want that.

Cool idea but I'm really annoyed that this isn't cross faction. So far the end of the KDF/Fed war has made no difference in the the story, we were already running cross faction missions before the end of the war, and not taking advantage of that here seems really stupid. I'm mostly a KDF player so the Legion gets the bulk of the resources I have to donate with what's left going to the Fed fleets and I really want cross faction fleets so that I don't have to make that choice. Really thinking about just deleting my Fed toons and going all KDF.

This would have been GREAT...four years ago...:) Still, it's a step in the right direction. For the first time, smaller fleets will have a chance to enjoy officially partnering with the mega-fleets, which Cryptic always favored. Mutual support and an increased pool of players for STF and events will be a boon for the community, as a whole. Good on ya, PWE/Cryptic!

Small fleets get help with projects, big fleets get the opportunity to donate to more projects. It would have gotten out of hand if they had just added another couple of fleet holdings so this is the perfect answer.